Lesson one of four.

We are in a time of transition; rules seem to be changing. Two thousand years ago people had the laws and precepts and understandings of the previous ages down pat. Jesus came and fulfilled those laws and what worked yesterday doesn’t necessarily work today. You and I stand at this time and we need to hear from God. I believe the Lord is speaking to us.

We are doing a lot of talking and teaching from the realm of the Feast of Tabernacles. Feast of Tabernacles is the third Feast in the year of the natural nation of Israel. The Feast of the Lord plays a very specific and powerful part of our revelation of spiritual maturity, revealing to us how to grow up into Him.

It is a divine thing that there is a sense of expectancy with a sense of "what’s wrong here, I was built for more than this." I believe that is a God given sensation. It’s there because God is speaking to his people and to hear we must come to the end of some things so we can hear what’s been said in the beginning of something else.

I think what Father is speaking to us is understanding of the Feast of Tabernacles. There were three Feasts in the economy of the nation of Israel that were to be observed every year. The first one is Passover then Pentecost and then Tabernacles. These three feasts portray individual spiritual maturity. You need to have your own personal Passover, you need to be born again.

If you’re born again then you need to go on to have your own personal Pentecost. That is an experience that is in addition to being born again. But something the church has missed, is the fact that there were three Feasts in the year. Tabernacles is a place where we realize that there is something more than Pentecost, something more than being Spirit filled. Just as sure as there is something in addition to being born again, there is something more than Pentecost.

Tabernacles is the feast of maturity. It’s sad that many people look back at the day that they gave their heart to the Lord, as the greatest day of their life. Many wishes they could go back and have that initial experience and joy they had that first night. Don’t you think it’s unusual that the beginning of our journey with Him seems to be the most exciting part?

There is another Feast. The Feast of Tabernacles is called the Feast of Joy. The greatest joy to ever hit the church is yet to come. The greatest awareness of redemption is found in the Feast of Tabernacles. The Feast of Tabernacles is the Feast that God has opened up to the Church in this hour and it is imperative that we spend time studying it.

It’s just as important as studying the other Feast. We are going to look at the Feast in the book of Revelation. The literary structure of the book of Revelation is in line with the Feast of Israel. The book of Revelation, one of the most interesting books of the Bible and it was never designed to scare anybody. "Blessed is he that readeth, he that heareth and he that keepeth." You are supposed to be blessed when you read the book of Revelation. There are people that won’t even read the book because they are afraid of those things or think it’s not meant to be understood.

Do you think there is a chance that the book of Revelation holds something that hasn’t been tapped into yet? If there are some things we haven’t seen yet? What’s the book of Revelation about? See, we don’t want to be lead by what people said yesterday. We believe Father God is saying some things today. I believe God said things, but we can’t just live by what God said. We are to live by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God and not just what God said.

I thank God for what He said, but I also thank God for what He is saying. I thank God that He is giving us new understanding of the Word. We are going to look at the book of Revelation and see a view of Christ. We are going this way, because the first few words of the book of Revelation define what it’s all about.

It’s amazing how people wonder what that book is all about. The beginning says The Revelation of Jesus Christ. Could it possibly be a revelation of Jesus Christ from the beginning to the end? It is a revelation of Jesus Christ. It’s the greatest Revelation of Him. The consummation of the whole Bible is seen in the book of Revelation.

The word "revelation" is apokalypsis, it means to unveil, to disclose, to reveal or to uncover. The uncovering, the revealing, the disclosing of Jesus Christ! I would like to say that when we teach the book of Revelation, we teach the most conservative view that has been taught. Preaching Christ out of the book of Revelation is the most conservative thing you can do.

Some preach bugs, beast or whatever, we preach Christ out of the book of Revelation. Some people see attack helicopters shooting at people, we preach Christ out of the book of Revelation. We are not taking any view away from anybody. There are several views that people adhere to. Some take the historic view by that I mean, there is a large contingency of the church that believe the book of Revelation has been historically fulfilled in 70 ad. I’ve studied and read their books and I understand where they come from.

Then there is the futuristic view of the book of Revelation and it’s primarily prophecy yet to be fulfilled. I have not only studied that, but I’ve taught from it and I understand that. We are not taking things away from people.

The question is, if it was possible to begin in chapter one verse one of the book of Revelation and preach spiritual maturity all the way through the book until you get to Revelation twenty one and twenty two. You see a "city set on a hill that can not be hid." Wouldn’t that be interesting?

If you could do that and see spiritual steps of maturity outlined there, spiritual growth until you get to the end of the book. Jesus looked at His disciples and said, "you guys are a city set on a hill that cannot be hid." When you get to the book of Revelation twenty one and twenty two, you find a city set on a high mountain with the light of the Lamb in it, a city set on a hill.

What if you could teach the book of Revelation from the redemptive standpoint? See you can go into the Old Testament from the book of Isaiah and preach historic things but you can also preach Christ out of every chapter in the book. The Revelation of Jesus Christ can be preached from a redemptive view.

You can do this by understanding the structure of the book in terms of understanding the Feasts of the Lord. There were seven Feast of Israel celebrated in three times of the year. First of all on the fourteenth day of the first month they had Passover. Passover was when they put the blood of the lamb over the doorpost. Passover was when they ate the bread and the wine, it was when they took the commune meal.

The Feast of UN-leavened bread which began on the fifteenth day, following Passover, it lasted a week. UN-leavened bread, is when they swept all the dirt out of the house and did not eat any bread that had leaven in it. Then on the first Sabbath after the Feast of UN-leaven bread occurred, they celebrated what they called the Sheaf of First Fruits. This was a time they would go out in the barley fields and they would take the first and finest barley and they would take it into the temple and wave it before God. That was representing this fact that they believed God would provide more, just like this first one.

In Jesus’ own ministry He fulfilled the Feast of Passover by becoming the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. While Jesus was in the heart of the earth after He had become sin, identified with our fallen nature.

While He was in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights, Jesus got the dust out of our life and Jesus removed sin from us. He bore our sin, died to it and thus removed it. He cleaned our house. When He rose again the third day, God as it were, waved Him before all spiritual entities saying "this is the first fruits of them that slept and there will be many just like this one."

See family, the first Adam took us out of the Garden. Adam was supposed to dress and keep the Garden, but the first Adam, because he transgressed and because his nature became that of spiritual death. The garden had to be guarded from the gardener. He was removed from the garden. We had no gardener to garden that heavenly place.

Isn’t it interesting that Jesus died in a garden?

Isn’t it interesting that He was buried in a garden?

Isn’t it interesting that He was raised in a garden?

When Jesus came out of the tomb, the first person that met Him, was Mary. The Scripture says, "she supposed Him to be the gardener." I don’t believe that there is a word in your Bible that is there without some consequences. The first person that saw Him just had a faith glimpse, "I thought that was a gardener." Jesus is the last Adam and He is our gardener today and I say hello garden, you are God's garden, trees of righteousness.

Then in the third month, there was the Feast of Pentecost, two leavened loaves. The Feast of Passover in the book of Revelation, is seen in Revelation 2,3,4 and 5. Promises to the over-comer. "To him that overcomes, will I grant you to eat of the Tree of Life which is in the midst of the garden." Where is Passover there? How do you over come?

There are over-comer conferences all over the world right now. What does the Bible say about overcoming?

That "blood of the Lamb," is Passover. The moment you accepted the Lordship of Jesus Christ you became an over-comer.

You became an over-comer by virtue of your union with the over-comer. You may not overcome anything, but your nature is to overcome. You are in union with Him who has overcome. When the blood of the Lamb was applied to your life, you became an over-comer.

In Romans chapter eight, the Apostle Paul said, we are more than conquers through Him that loved us. Some people say, Pastor I would sure like to be able to say that with Paul. Paul didn’t say that because of anything he had done. He said that because of who he was in. He’s in union with the conqueror.

We have to understand that we have nothing and are nothing outside of our union with Christ. You’re the righteousness of God because you are in Christ. He places an unsaved person who gives his or her life to God and He places them in Christ and that makes them righteous. Why, because they are in the righteous man?

We’re kings and priest unto God, because He is a King and Priest. Everything we are is by virtue of our union with Him. We’ve got to come to that conclusion.

The Feast of Pentecost was celebrated with two leavened loaves. In the Feast of Passover they were to eat UN-leavened bread. Leaven is typical of sin in Scripture. In the Feast of Pentecost they were to eat two leavened loaves; bread with sin in it. When you were filled with the Spirit was not primarily so you could talk in tongues. Jesus said in John 16 to His disciples, He said, men I’ve got some things to share with you, but you cannot bare them now. I keep trying to teach you something. Every time I do, (the Greek said) it keeps falling through your fingers.

If you will study what the disciples could not understand, they could not understand what Jesus was saying concerning His death, burial and resurrection. They couldn’t grasp that. Peter said, "that isn’t so Lord, that is not going to happen." He taught them over and over again, "I must go to Jerusalem and I must be spitefully entreated and they're going to hang me, they're going to kill me, but the third day I’m going to raise again." Every single time it says, they understood not what He said. (Do you suppose you need to lean on the Holy Spirit for you to understand today?)

Jesus said, "when He, the Spirit of truth has come He will lead you and guide you into all truth." He will show you things to come. I believe the Spirit of God can show you things to come tomorrow, but in the context of what Jesus was saying. He wasn’t talking about how to let you to know to miss the problems of tomorrow. He was talking to the disciples about the death, burial and resurrection to come that they hadn't been able to understand to that point.

He said, He will take that which is mine and show it unto you, that which is mine concerning the death, burial and resurrection. Because you were personally involved in the death, burial and resurrection, when Jesus became sin.

He became sin and His sin was your sin. "He who knew no sin. His righteous earth walk was made to be sin so that we might be made the righteousness of God. Why is there two leaven loaves in the Feast of Pentecost? Because we are here seeing by the power of the Holy Spirit, that when we study the person and work of Christ we do not see just one man dying, but we see all men dying in Him.

When Jesus was made to be sin, Father God viewed us in Him. The greatest tragedy in the church world today, is to view the death of Jesus as the death of only one man. You died two thousand years ago in Christ. We still struggle today with trying to do away with the old man and that happened two thousand years ago. It becomes true of you instantly when you accept the Lordship of Jesus Christ over your life.

You do not have two individuals in you, there is not a black dog and a white dog inside of you. There is not an old man and a new man in you, your are a new creature of Christ. There is only residue of the old man between your ears. It’s done family.

That’s what Pentecost is about, the primary purpose of the Holy Spirit is to reveal Christ to you. We still believe that we are over two thousand years from the sending forth of the Spirit into this earth and we’re still yet to allow Him to do what His primary purpose was.

We will see later on in Revelation seven and eight, there were 144,000 Jewish people. It says "these were sealed."

Do you remember that? The sealing of the 144,000, did you know Ephesians chapter one tells us just exactly what that was? We are sealed with the Holy Spirit of promises. Revelation chapter eight, you find the fire sent forth into the entire world from the Golden Altar. Would it be interesting if that was just the pouring out of the Holy Spirit into the world?

I challenge you to be open to this and hear what the Holy Spirit would speak to you. In chapter eight beginning in verse six you find an interesting thing. Seven trumpets begin to sound. What’s the first thing that happens in the Feast of Tabernacles, Trumpets begin to blow? Trumpets denote a clear sound word. Revelation chapter eight, trumpets come next, one after the other trumpets blow.

Some people call it a judgment. It’s a revelation of a judgment! Our desire in teaching this is to get you to look at this book again and look at it redemptivly, because it is a revelation of Jesus, an unveiling. Where is it to be unveiled, where is He veiled today?

The Apostle John turned on the Isle of Patmos which is the "Isle of my killing" and heard a trumpet behind him and he turned and what did he see, he saw a Golden candlestick? Revelation one twenty tells us what that candlestick was. "And the candle stick are the churches and their one in the candle stick like unto the Son of man. Whose in the church like unto the Son of man? Family Jesus Christ is in the church today, He’s got to be unveiled in the church. He’s got to be let loose from the church today.

We are the book sealed with seven seals in the right hand of Him who sits on the throne. The world needs to know what’s written upon your spirit because of your union with Him. You may be a little quite right now in your mind, but that’s OK. We need to be quite and let the Holy Spirit speak to us. Don’t try to line this up with a carnal understand of the book of Revelation.

There is a book in the right hand of Him that sits upon the throne and this book is sealed with seven seals. John cries, "oh God who is worthy to open this book and to loose the seals thereon?" We believe the Lord is about to teach us how to release the Christ in us.

To be able to stand singing and preaching, preaching through our singing. The world needs the Jesus in us today family, they are crying, "we would see Jesus" and we are like a book sealed. Those seven seals have to be opened one at a time. He cried "who is worthy" and the message was "no man is open in heaven or in earth or under the earth, no man is worthy."

Have you ever tried to rip the seals off your own person, ever tried to beat yourself up so you could let Christ shine forth through you? Have you ever wanted some man to come do that? Have you ever wanted the Christ out upon you so bad that you were just willing to do anything?

You know what Revelation chapter five says? It says, "The Lamb is worthy to open the seals!" The Lamb is the only one who can open the seals. Something about the crucified Lamb opens the seal. He opens them one at a time.

The first seal is the white horse. What if the white horse is the revelation of the righteous earth walk of Jesus Christ? White in Revelation is the picture of righteousness. What if the white horse begins the opening up of the seals by declaring unto us; Jesus had a righteous earth walk and was given a crown, a crown with which He went forth to conquer?

The book of Revelation is a revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave to him to show unto His servants things which must shortly come to past. That word "servants" there is bondservants. Its taken from the Old Testament book of Exodus chapter twenty one where a person was free from slavery and chose to stay with their master. He had to be taken to the door and his ear was nailed to the door.

See, the book of revelation is given to those who are bondservants, to those who are willing to have their ear nailed to the Door. Who is the door, who is the door family? It’s not where is the door, it’s who is the door? What we need is to look for Jesus everywhere. Can you hear and understand that? The book of Revelation is not to be interpreted by News Week magazine or your latest newspaper.

The book of Revelation is a glorious unveiling of the Christ life in us and through us in one view.

We need that so bad, I need to know how to get this river of life in me, to flow out. On the Day of Atonement which is the sixth feast but it’s the second feast in the feast of Tabernacles. It started with Trumpets on the first day of the seventh month. The tenth day is the Day of Atonement. Do you know what they did on that tenth day? The priest went behind the veil on that day and sprinkled the blood seven times before the Mercy Seat.

When you get to Revelation sixteen, you find angels coming out of the temple, pouring seven vials of blood. It’s the Day of Atonement. The vials of blood are parallel to the plagues of Egypt. In the Old Testament God came to Egypt and poured plagues upon the gods of Egypt, to get the children of Israel out of Egypt. Wouldn’t it be interesting if in the New Testament the blood of Jesus is poured out upon the gods of Egypt to get them out of us?

You see our problem today is in our thinking, it’s in our soul. We’ve got some idols.

Do you believe it’s possible that you’ve got some false images between your ears?

Do you believe it’s possible that your church doesn’t know it all yet.

Do you believe that we just don’t have it all yet, that there are some gods in your soul that need to be brought down?

Do you believe there have been some idols that have been produced in our hearts and pictures and images that need to be brought down?

I believe that in order for us to walk in the finished work of Christ, for us to come to the fullness of Christ, which is to grow up and become conscience of what was accomplished in the finished work of Christ. See everybody on the night of the Day of Atonement went to bed, knowing that they were cleansed from their sins.

We believe what is about to take place on the earth, is that some people, by the power of the Spirit is going to learn so much about the redemptive work of Christ and our incorporation into it, that thet're going to become free of sin conscientiousness. Their going to grow up and walk in a righteousness conscientiousness.

Family, the book of Ester speaks of a people who walked into the Most Holy Place where the King is and touch the top of His scepter. In Hebrews chapter one the Scripture says our King's scepter is righteousness. No body has touched yet all that our right standing with Christ will give us. You won’t do it in just Passover and Pentecost; it’s going to take Tabernacles.

The last feast is the Feast of Tabernacle; they would build booths and get inside those. The end of the book of Revelation says, "behold the Tabernacle of God is with men." There is a literary structure to the book of Revelation and the literary structure where spiritual maturity is concerned is in line with the Feast of Israel.

That’s the reason it’s so important for us to understand the Feast of Tabernacles. It’s so important for us to understand that there is more than Pentecost. It matters not how totally charismatic you are, you will not be fulfilled until you show up three times in a year. If you learn nothing else we want this to challenge your thinking process. We need it challenged. We’re too at ease in Zion.

We have to understand that over two thousand years ago, the most religious people in the world thought they knew exactly how Jesus was going to come. The Scripture says that Jesus was God with us. They looked God right in the face and didn’t see Him. Why, because they were set in their ways. Jesus is coming and He is going to come this way only. If nothing else family, I want to be open. We have been taught to accept the fact, that Passover was for the church and Pentecost was for the church and Tabernacles was for another people.

That is absolutely against every law of Bible interpretation that anybody could come up with. Nobody teaches that except in that realm. If you’ve got three feast and two of them belong to us, why doesn’t the third one belong to us? It does belong to us.

Trumpets denote a clear sounding word. There is understanding available to us today family. The Day of Atonement denotes a time of cleansing, a purification on the way. Tabernacles denote a time when we actually become the finished house of God. Jesus said, upon this rock I will build something.

He is still building something family; He is building Him a house. Did you know you’re the house of God? Who lives in God's house, God does. When you get your new house built, you move into it. What God is about to do family is move into His house?

Why don’t others teach this, I don’t know but I tell you He is about to move into His house. How do we know that? Because Moses Tabernacle is a picture of the house of God that we are, when it was finished the glory of God came into it.

David’s’ Tabernacle is a type of the house of God that we are. When it was finished God moved into it, David brought the Ark; the glory of God came into it. Solomon’s temple is a type of the house of God that we are, when it was finished the glory of God came into it.

The restoration temple of Zerubbable is a type of the house of God, which we are, when that restoration temple was finished the glory of God came into it. See Herods’ temple was just a restoration temple and when Jesus walked into it, the glory of God came into that temple.

Jesus was the house of God and the Bible says that "the glory of God" came upon the Mountain of Transfiguration. The next and final house is the house which we are, the church. When it’s finished guess what’s going to happen?

This is not something you will learn from books. Here is the way the church world thinks. All these Tabernacles are the house of God and when they are finished God came in. Jesus house of God, God in His glory came. Church house of God, "we’re going." Family that’s not the pattern. House finished, He comes, house finished He comes, house finished He comes, house finished He comes, house finished we go, that’s not the pattern.

The pattern is that He comes! After that the next great event in God's timetable is not the going of the church but the coming of the presence of the Lord. Do we not want that; does the world need that? Does your city need that? What we are seeing in the church is not it yet. This is not what we were born again to be, the glory of God is going to come to the house, but it won’t come to the house in just Passover and Pentecost.

The glory comes when all three Feasts are meet completely in the church. Three rooms in the Tabernacle of Moses, Outer Court, Holy Place and Most Holy Place. Outer Court represents born again experience (natural light). The Holy Place represents being filled with the Spirit, the golden candlestick, bread and wine on the table. There is another room in the house. Father God lives in a three-room house.

Family it’s time we have a Most Holy place people, it’s time we have some maturity in the house. It’s time that we enter in beyond the veil and realize who we are and who we have been all along. We were created for more than this family.

The priest in the Old Testament had three layers of garment. They had a little white layer representing the new birth. They had a blue robe representing the in filling of the Holy Spirit. They had a breastplate on the outside with jewels. Inside that breastplate was the little stones, the Urim and the Thummim. Urim means light and Thummim means perfection. It’s time the church has a little light on maturity and growing up. It’s time that Father just shakes us and we admit that we don’t know what we thought we did.

We’ve got to come to the third feast in the house; we’ve got to be willing to grow up. There is a shaking coming. What’s shaken is all of our doctrines. Jesus is a person family. How could religious people look into the face of our Savior and not even know who He was? Do you know why, because of their doctrines? Don’t get mad if we challenge your doctrine. Some got mad when they were told there was more than Passover. Family there is more than Pentecost. Just because you don’t believe this, it does not make it not true. Father God is not obligated to do what you thought He said. There is a feast of joy on the way family.

We are not taking anything away from you. Let’s let Him come before we pack our bags.

Amen.