Well, we want to say Shabbat Shalom and welcome to the Bible classes of the Holy Scriptures and Israel. We are very thankful that we are able to, be together in such a way and to study the Word of God, together. We are privileged now to, look into, this amazing, final feast called, in Hebrew, Sukkot, the Feast of Tabernacles. It is found in the Book of Leviticus, chapter 23, and my dear friend and dear brothers and sisters, hopefully you have a Bible available, and so please, turn with me to Leviticus chapter 23. We are going to pray and ask the Lord to bless the, the session, and then we will do the reading of the Word of God.

And so we pray. Abba, our Father, we just want to ask your blessing upon the reading of your Word, and we commit ourselves to you, for we ask it in Yeshua, in Jesus, our Messiah's name. Amen. Amen. And so here we are, my dear friend, please, follow me as I'm reading from Leviticus chapter 23, the last verses there, found in verses 33 to 43, and I'm reading. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, The fifteenth day of the seventh month shall be the Feast of Tabernacles, in Hebrew, Sukkot, for seven days, unto the Lord. On the first day shall be an holy convocation, ye shall do no servile work therein. Seven days ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord. On the eighth day shall be an holy convocation unto you, and ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord. It is a solemn assembly, and ye shall do no servile work therein.

These are the feasts of the Lord, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocation, to offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord, a burnt offering, and a meal offering, a sacrifice, and a drink offering, everything upon his day. Beside the Shabbat of the Lord, and beside your gifts, and beside all your vows, and beside all your freewill offering, which ye give unto the Lord. Verse 39. Also, in the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when ye have gathered in the fruit of the land, ye shall keep a feast unto the Lord seven days. On the first day shall be a Shabbat, and on the eighth day shall be a Shabbat, and ye shall take you on the first day the boughs of goodly trees, branches of palm trees, and boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook, and ye shall rejoice before the Lord your God seven days.

And ye shall keep it a feast unto the Lord seven days in the year, and it shall be a statute forever in your generation. Ye shall celebrate it in the seventh month. Ye shall dwell in booth, in Sukkot, in tabernacles, seven days, all that are Israelis born shall dwell in Sukkot, in booth. That your generation may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in tabernacles, in Sukkot, in booth, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt, I am the Lord your God.

And Moses declared unto the children of Israel the feasts of the Lord. And here I'm stopping, beloved friend, reading, of course, the final verses of Leviticus chapter 23, beginning with verse 33, all the way to the end of the chapter. In fact, beloved friends and dear brothers and sisters, the 23rd chapter of the book of Leviticus is really a very, very important chapter that I found in the Torah, in the canon of the Word of God. And why it is very important? Simply because there God gave instruction to the Jewish people, to the people of Israel, concerning the program, we might say, that he has for Israel, the nation, and For all the nations of the world. In fact, it is a program that God had given to his earthly people of Israel to present before them the plan that he have for the whole world.

While he gave these, a feast that he had given to the nation of Israel, yet in these feasts, in this 23rd chapter, there are seven feasts, and each one, beloved brothers and sisters and dear friend, each one of these feasts representing the work that God is going to do with respect to Israel and all the nations of the world. And we know, from, reading these seven chapters, that throughout the whole chapter, including the verses that I have read, before you today, that there are seven feasts, beginning with Passover, Unleavened Bread, First Fruits, and Weeks, or Shavuot, continues with Trumpets, and then we have the, Day of Atonement, and Culminating or finalizing with the feast that is called Sukkot or Tabernacles. This feast we just read about it in Leviticus chapter 23 verse 33 to 44. Now these are very important because if you notice, beloved brothers and sisters, we read the last verse of Leviticus chapter 23 and there it says in verse 44, And Moses declared unto the children of Israel the feasts of the Lord.

If you go back a little bit to the beginning of the, chapter, in verses one and two we read, And the Lord spoke unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them concerning the feasts of the Lord. Notice, the Feast of the Lord in chapter twenty three, verses one and two, the Feast of the Lord in chapter twenty three, verse forty four, these are the feasts of the Lord. In Hebrew, it is said, Moadei Yehovah. These are the feasts of the Lord. These are the Moadim, the word for feast, come from the Hebrew word Moed, or Moadim, and the word for Moadim simply mean an appointed seasons. So, as you read The whole twenty third chapter of the, book of Leviticus, you will notice that every feast that God had given to his people Israel is linked with a day, with a date.

And so, in Leviticus chapter twenty three, and specifically, as we read in verse twenty four, God commended his people of Israel to keep seven Feasts of the Lord. It really is, it is culminating with this final feast called the Feast of Tabernacles, or the Feast of Booths, but in the Hebrew it is called the Feast of Sukkot.

Again, to mention to you, beloved brothers and sisters, that every one of these seven feasts were given to Israel upon a certain date to be kept. The first four feasts of the seven feasts of the Lord were dated for the spring season, beginning from the month of Nisan in the Hebrew calendar. The final three feasts of the Lord that was given to the nation of Israel are in the fall season, in the seventh month of the Hebrew calendar. And so what you really have in Leviticus chapter 23 verse 5, you have the Feast of Passover. In verses 6 and 7 and 8, we have the Feast of Unleavened Bread. In verses 9 to 14, we have the Feast of First Fruit, Katsir in Hebrew. In verses 15 to 21, we have the Feast of Shavuot, or Pentecost, or the Feast of Weeks in Hebrew.

Then in the fall season, we did not read, but in verses 23 to 25, we have the Feast of Trumpets, which is Rosh Hashanah. And then in verses 26 to 32, in Leviticus chapter 23, we have the Feast of the, or the Day of Atonement, Yom HaKippurim. And finally, what we have read, and what we are going to look into, beloved brothers and sisters, in verses 33 to 43 of Leviticus chapter 23, we have the final feast that is called Chag Sukkot, the Feast of Tabernacles, the Feast of Booths. This is beautiful to see. And as you look at the seven feasts, you will notice that every one of them is linked not only with the nation of Israel, but also with the person of our Lord Yeshua Jesus the Messiah. He is the one that fulfilled up to this present day already four of the seven feasts that were given to the nation of Israel.

He is the one who became the Passover lamb, Pesach. When he died on the shameful cross, he became the Passover lamb. We read that Christ, Messiah, our Passover, had been sacrificed for us. He's the one that we read in John 1 29, Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. He became our Passover, our Pesach. He also is the one that fulfilled the Feast of Unleavened Bread because he is the sinless one, the undefiled one. You see, you and I have sinned, but he came without sin, separated from sin. He is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners according to the book of Hebrews. He also, this is Yeshua, Jesus the Messiah, he have also fulfilled the Feast of First Fruits because according to 1 Corinthians 15, Christ the Messiah rose from among the dead. He became the first fruit of them that slept. He was resurrected and he fulfilled the first, the Feast of First Fruits as well at his resurrection.

He also, beloved brothers and sisters, already fulfilled the Feast of Shavuot, or Pentecost, by introducing the new covenant, the Brit HaChadashah, and he, the beginning of the, acting, you might say, of the new covenant came when the Messiah sent the Holy Spirit of God on the Feast of Weeks, and there, beloved brothers and sisters, on the Feast of Pentecost, the church, the assembly was born, and the beginning of what is known for us today, the church age, came to fruition, where Jews and Gentiles, represented by the two loaves that have leaven in them, presented before the High Priest of Israel, the Jews and the Gentiles who trusted in Yeshua the Messiah, who died, who lived a perfect life, who rose from among the Dead he is the one that is now sent the Holy Spirit of God and united true believers in him as becoming ones that are part of the assembly of the living God.

By one spirit we were all baptized or put into that body of Christ. We belong to the body of our Lord Yeshua Jesus the Messiah. And these first spring feasts were already fulfilled at the first coming of the Messiah some two thousand years ago. And the Messiah's name of course is Yeshua. the Messiah You shall call his name Yeshua, Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. Matthew chapter one and verse twenty one. Now in between the spring feasts And the fall feasts there is a long period of time, some three or four months in the cycle of the yearly cycle for the nation of Israel.

And these three or four months, there was sowing and reaping and sowing and reaping, representing the present age in which we live on the church age. And during this age, we are sowing and reaping. We preach the message of the gospel of the grace of God, and many such as yourself and many others came to turn to the Lord Jesus the Messiah and become part of the, ekklesia, which came after the blessing of the new covenant, of the new, testament of the Brit HaChadashah. Well, that is what's going on today. We are still waiting.

In a prophetic message from these seven feasts of the second coming of the Messiah, we are waiting for the second coming of the Messiah and the fall feast of the Lord, the Feast of Trumpet, the Day of Atonement, and this feast where we are studying now the day that is called the Feast of Tabernacles, representing now that which will take place in the second coming of the Messiah. The Feast of Trumpet represent the physical regathering of the Jewish people back to the land of promise, to the land of Canaan. The Feast of Trumpet also speak to us in typology of the rapture of the church before the days of Jacob trouble will take place.

The Day of Atonement, really, Yom HaKippurim, representing really the tribulation days, the seven years of Jacob trouble. Where Israel, the nation, will go through a terrible day of tribulation. The world will experience the judgment of God because they have rejected Yeshua Jesus, the Messiah. But you see, the nation of Israel at the end of the tribulation will confess and repent before the Lord and they will be accepted by the Lord, by God, and will be blessed in a restored, regenerated nation, the nation of Israel. And through them, the Lord is going to bring blessing to this world. And finally, the Feast of Sukkot, the Feast of Booths, beloved brothers and sisters, is the culmination. It is representing the Messianic kingdom where the Lord Yeshua, Jesus the Messiah, will receive that which belongs to Him. As you and I call to pray, Thy kingdom come, as we read it in the Gospel of Matthew.

So in this session, I would like to mention a few things that are very important concerning the verses that we just read, beloved brothers and sisters. I would like to point to additional four things that I would like to present before us in this session. And these next verses that I would like to read and point to in Leviticus chapter 23, pointing to us, number one, of course, to the requirements, the seven requirements for the observation of the Feast of Tabernacles from the children of Israel, which God commanded them in Leviticus chapter 23. Secondly, in the book of Nehemiah in chapter eight, I would like to point to the, the fact that many generations have passed by, and it is only during the days of Nehemiah, Nehemiah, when the Jewish people returned back to the land, that it was the greatest, joyous celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles during the days of Ezra and Nehemiah since the days of Joshua, when Israel have entered into the Promised Land at about 1450 BC.

And thirdly, I would like to point to the fact through the prophet Zechariah that the Feast of Tabernacles will be kept by the nation of Israel and by all the nations of the world during the one thousand years of the Messianic Kingdom, because the Feast of Tabernacles, beloved brothers and sisters and dear friend, really representing before us the Messianic Kingdom.

The millennial age, the one thousand years reign of our Lord Yeshua Jesus the Messiah, where all the world will enjoy the shalom, the peace that they were longing for. And of course, from Matthew chapter six, verses six to ten, finally, the Lord Jesus the Messiah instructed his disciples to pray, as you and I are called to pray today, thy kingdom come, to long for the kingdom of the Lord to come and to be established here in this world. So let's just look at some of the, requirement. There are sevenfold requirements that God gave his people Israel in order for them to keep the Feast of Sukkot, the Feast of Tabernacles, the Feast of Booths.

Sevenfold requirements. Let me pass through them, just that you will have it before us. Firstly, it's found in Leviticus 23, verse 33 and 34a. Notice, the first thing that, the Feast of Tabernacles is to begin on the fifteenth day of the seventh month. This is the month of Tishrei. Notice that, we read verse 33, And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, notice that, saying, The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be a Feast of Tabernacles. Notice that? I just want to pause here for a moment. You see that there is a date. Notice the date? The fifteenth day, and it is on the fifteenth day of the seventh month.

Now it is very interesting because the number seven is mentioned many times in this connection with this Feast of Tabernacles, the Feast of Sukkot, because it is the seventh feast, the final feast. Secondly, it is to be kept on the seventh, on the, as a seven, on the seventh month in the Hebrew calendar called the month of Tishrei. And thirdly, it is to be kept for seven days, beloved brothers and sisters. It is a feast that is representing culmination and, perfection, and we might say the number seven in the word of God representing fullness.

It represents the fullness of the times in which the whole world will ultimately enjoy that which God is intending for the whole world. But you notice in, in, in typology, as the message is given to Israel, the Feast of Tabernacles is to be kept on the seventh month, is to be kept, for seven days, and it is a feast that is the final seventh feast that was given to the people of Israel out of all the seven feasts of Jehovah. So it is to be kept on the fifteenth day of the seventh month. The fifteenth day of the seventh month, it is the month of Tishrei.

And notice that, beloved brothers and sisters, no one could change the date. It is an appointed season. No one could begin this day on the, on the fourteenth day, on the thirteenth day, on the, or even on the sixteenth day. It is fixed. Why? Because it is an appointment that God had made with his people. Israel would to abide by beginning to celebrate the Feast of Sukkot on that fifteenth day of that month. That is verses thirty three and verse forty, thirty four A. And again, to emphasize in verse thirty four B, you notice that it is to be kept for seven days. Again, the number seven is mentioned, and I'm reading verse thirty four B. Notice, it is the Feast of Tabernacles, it is for seven days, and it is unto the Lord.

The Lord required this from his people, and they were to abide by the command of the Lord. So notice, the first two things we learn from verses 33 and 34, it is to begin on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, and it is to be kept for seven days. The number seven has an amazing emphasis in here in the book of Leviticus, because it speaks of culmination, it speaks of finality, it speaks of perfection, it speaks of that which is fullness, the fullness of the time. Now the third thing, beloved brothers and sisters, that we read concerning the Feast of Sukkot in Leviticus chapter 23 is found in verse 35. And in verse thirty five, the Feast of Tabernacles is to begin by setting the first day as a holy unto the Lord.

The first day of that seven feasts, we read in verse thirty five, on the first day shall be a holy convocation. Ye shall do no servile work therein. The word for holy convocation is mikra, a kodesh. Mikra means a calling, a hallowed and sanctified day that God called to be set apart for Him. So you begin the Feast of Tabernacles by setting this first day of the feast, that is long, for seven days long, by setting it apart unto the Lord. Notice it used the word holy convocation.

Mikra in Hebrew, mikra kodesh, the word for holy meaning set apart. Just like the Shabbat day was called to be set apart, the seventh day unto the Lord, under the law God had given to his people Israel, also the seventh feast, which is the Feast of Tabernacles, ought to begin by being setting this feast as a holy unto the Lord. And therefore there will be no manner of work, notice we read in verse thirty five, there was no servile work therein. No work whatsoever. Because the beginning of that day is to be, of that feast is in the first day to devote the day to the God of our fathers.

That was given to Israel under the law. It is a command of the Lord for his people of Israel. Now number four, beloved brothers and sisters, is found in verse thirty six, thirty seven, and thirty eight. The Feast of Tabernacles is to be a time when blood sacrifices are to be offered day by day. Now this is very, very important, because atonement has to be made.

And so you notice, and I'm reading verse thirty six, thirty seven, and thirty eight, we read, seven days, notice that, ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord. On the first, notice, and on the eighth day, ye shall be a holy convocation unto the Lord, and ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord. It is a solemn assembly.

And ye shall do no servile work therein, we read in this verse thirty six. He continued in verse thirty seven and thirty eight to say this, these are the feasts of the Lord, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocation, and to offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord. Notice, burnt offering, and a meal offering, a sacrifice of drink offering, everything upon these day beside, notice this, beloved brothers and sisters, this is over and above, notice that verse thirty eight, the Shabbat of the Lord, beside the gifts, and beside all the vows, and beside all your freewill offering, which ye shall or ye give unto the Lord. In other words, you must offer sacrifices. Blood must be shed, animals must be killed over and above all that which you are normally offering unto the Lord.

And I want you to notice in verses, thirty seven and thirty eight where we have beside, notice the Shabbat of the Lord. Beside your gifts, beside all your vows, and beside all your freewill offering which ye give unto the Lord. In other words, every Israeli, every Jewish person in days of old was called to offer Shabbat sacrifices, personal gifts unto the Lord, meaning offering unto the Lord, vows that he made unto the Lord, freewill offering that he or she made unto the Lord, that had to continue on and over and above the offering, the morning sacrifices, evening sacrifices, Shabbat sacrifices, monthly sacrifices, yearly sacrifices, they were to offer everyday blood sacrifices unto the Lord. And you notice that we have here, beloved brothers and sisters, in verse 37, burnt offering. Meal offering, drink offering, everything upon his day. Now you and I might ask the question, and I think it is important to understand, that one can never enter into a celebration, one can never enter into a relationship with a living God, who is holy.

He or she can never enter into the enjoyment of blessing from a holy and a righteous God unless atonement is made. Sacrifices must be offered. Blood had to be shed. Why? Because the life of the flesh is in the blood. Leviticus 17 11, and the Lord had given it upon your altar to make an atonement for your souls.

And you see, beloved brothers and sisters, and dear friend, without the shedding of blood, the Hebrew author wrote, there is no forgiveness of sins. And so even in this final feast that God had given to our forefathers, the nation of Israel, they could never keep in a proper way, observe this Feast of Tabernacles unless blood atonement must be made.

Because Israel, as you, as I, as everyone else, by nature we are sinners. And because God is holy, God demand judgment upon sin. And sin was judged when the animal came, was brought before the Lord and were killed as a substitute to make a temporary covering, kaparah in Hebrew, atonement for the sinner that can enjoy, approach the presence of God and enjoy His presence. And all these sacrifices that were given to the nation of Israel in days of old, projected a coming day when the Mashiach will come, who indeed came in the fullness of the time. God sent forth His Son made of a woman, was born to the Virgin Miriam, was born under the law, He was born among our people of Israel when Israel was still under the law. Why? In order to redeem them which were under the law.

The purpose of the coming of the Mashiach is to redeem a sinner, to redeem mankind, womankind, peoplekind, you and I today. So sacrifices must be offered. But I would like you, beloved brothers and sisters, to notice something even more beautiful here, as we read verses 36, and 37, and 38. I want you to turn for a moment to the book of Numbers, if you don't mind, please, to chapter 29. And this is very significant and very important to appreciate the plan and the program and the purposes of God. Notice in Numbers chapter 29, there we also read concerning the Feast of Tabernacles, from verse 12, all the way to verse, 38. But I want you to notice how beautiful and how gracious God is, because God has in mind, when sacrifices are being offered, He has in mind to redeem the whole nations of the world if they only return to Him.

And Israel was to be a priestly nation representing all the nations of the world before the living and the true God. And so in Numbers, chapter 29, and verse 12, we read, listen to this, again, in verse 12, on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, this is the very same month where the Feast of Sukkot, the Feast of Tabernacles begins.

It is on the fifteenth day, it is on the seventh month. It says in verse twelve, Ye shall offer, ye shall have an holy convocation, and ye shall do no servile work therein, and ye shall keep the feast unto the Lord for seven days. And then notice that, from verse thirteen onward, the, the Lord through Moshe is instructing Israel concerning how many sacrifices they are to offer on that altar. And you notice, very interesting, because we read in verse thirteen, Ye shall offer burnt offering, a sacrifice made by fire, a sweet savor unto the Lord. And he began in verse thir- in verse thirteen to say, You shall offer thirteen young bullocks, two rams, and then fourteen lambs of the first year, they shall be without blemish. Now notice in verse thirteen, the people of Israel was, were to offer thirteen young bullocks.

Over and above, they are to offer two rams, fourteen lambs, and so on, without blemish. But if you look down throughout this twenty ninth chapter of the book of, Numbers, you will notice that they are to offer every day a certain amount of bullocks, but every day it will be diminished. On the first day, it will be thirteen young bullocks. This is verse thirteen. Then notice what we read in verse seventeen, on the second day, you shall offer twelve young bullocks. Notice in verse 20, on the third day, eleven young bullocks, or eleven bullocks. In verse 23, the fourth day, there will be ten bullocks.

In verse 26, on the, the fifth day, there will be nine bullocks to offer. On the sixth day, in verse 29, Israel was to offer eight bullocks. And finally, on the seventh day, verse 32, Israel is to offer seven bullocks. Now, you notice this, beloved brothers and sisters? Thirteen, twelve, eleven, ten, nine, eight, and seven. Every day, thirteen, twelve, eleven, ten, and then nine, eight, and seven. If you count thirteen plus twelve plus eleven plus ten plus nine plus eight plus seven, you will find the number seventy.

And the number seventy representing the seventy nations that are recorded for us in Genesis chapter ten. In other words, beloved brothers and sisters, God has in mind In requiring from his people of Israel to offer these sacrifices for seven days, thirteen, twelve, eleven, ten, nine, eight, seven, seventy bullocks representing the seventy nations that are recorded for us in Genesis chapter ten. And if you would look into Genesis chapter ten, you will notice that the descendants of Noah, Shem, and Ham, and Japheth recorded in Genesis chapter ten. I'll just read these first a few verses, Genesis chapter ten and verse one. There we read, notice that. Now these are the generations of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and unto them were sons, were sons born after the flood. And then it begin to tell you the names of the sons of, of Noah and their descendants. In verse two, we read of Yefet. In verse six, we read of Ham.

and then, of course, in verse 21, we read of Shem. Now, if you would look at these names, very interesting, beloved brothers and sisters, Genesis, chapter, ten, and now if you go backwards from verses two to four, you have the fourteen nations which are coming from, the son called Japheth. And if you go back into verses six to twenty forward that is, you will see the descendants of the people that came from the tribe, from Ham, and ultimately you will have the descendants that come from Shem, which are final verses there. And if you just look at them, the genealogy of Yefet, the genealogy of Ham, and the genealogy of Shem, you will notice that there are seventy nations that came out from these three sons of Noah after the flood.

Just to read them, the genealogy of Yefet, you have Gomer, Magog, Medai, Tiras, Tuval, Meshech, and Yavan. Their descendants, and if I can just read them, there are many, many names that we have here that are hard even to be reading. Descendants of Ham, we have Cush, Egypt, Put, and Canaan. And then you have later on the genealogy of Shem, you have Elam, and Ashur, and Arpachshad, and then Lud, and Aram, and they have their descendants. You have a list of the descendants of Shem, Ham, and Japheth recorded for us in Genesis chapter 12, beloved brothers and sisters, and in total there are seventy nations for whom the people of Israel were required to offer seventy young bullocks.

Representing all, beloved brothers and sisters, the, the seventy nations that originally came from the, from Noah, that came under the, under, after the flood, and God, wanted that all the nations of the world will be forgiven, that the blood atonement will be provided for all. And you know, in typology, it's speaking to us of the blood of our Lord Yeshua Jesus the Messiah, that is sufficient enough for all to come to Him, from all the nations of the world. But only those who avail themselves of this precious blood will enter into this eternal relationship with our Lord Yeshua Jesus the Messiah. And so, beloved brothers and sisters, this is so important to bear in mind, while in Leviticus chapter 23, we do not have the list of the sacrifices, in Numbers chapter 29, God provided Israel with a clear information as to what to offer.

And it is so beautiful to see how God, every day of the seven days of the Feast of Tabernacles, God chose to raise the nation of Israel in order to show forth His glory and be a blessing to the seventy nations of the world. And of course today if you are going to read, go to the United Nations, apparently there are about 183 nations recorded today in the United Nations, but in the days in which, we have in a record in Genesis chapter 10, there were the descendants of, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, which were 70 nations for whom Israel, for them, Israel were offering sacrifices, beloved brothers and sisters. So back to Leviticus chapter 23, and we have read already that the Feast of Tabernacles is to begin on the 15th day of the seventh month. The Feast of Tabernacles is to be kept for seven days.

The Feast of Tabernacles is to begin by setting the first day as to be set apart for the Lord. The Feast of Tabernacles is a time in which blood sacrifices are to be offered day by day over and above all the sacrifices which were offered daily anyway and weekly and all the volunteer offering all and above them was to be offered and seventy young bullocks were to be offered on behalf of all the nations of the world. Why? Because the Feast of Tabernacles is the feast of culmination, it bringing about the finality in God's program for mankind.

Now we continue now in verse thirty nine of Leviticus chapter twenty three, and in Leviticus chapter, twenty three verse thirty nine, we have the fifth responsibility that Israel had, is to, notice that verse thirty nine, is to be a thanksgiving feast, looking back at God's provision for his people Israel. And so we read in verse, thirty nine, beloved brothers and sisters, these words, Also on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when ye have gathered in the, the fruit of the land, ye shall keep a fast, a feast unto the Lord seven days, on the first day it shall be a Shabbat, and on the eighth day shall be a Shabbat. Notice, you shall keep a feast when you gather the fruit of the land. And when the children of Israel will gather the fruit of the land in the fall season, and they will recollect, beloved brothers and sisters, they will give thanks to the Lord, and they will look back at God's provision for the nation.

And they will be reminded how God had provide for them, and even now in the fall season as they gather in that which they have worked for, and now the fall season just have arrived, and they are going to glean to, as it says in verse 39, to gather in the fruit of the land. They are to keep a feast unto the Lord, they are to give thanks, to be thankful to the Lord for His provision. And you see, like you and I, think about the provision of God for you and I every day of our lives.

God provide for us with plenty. He gave us food, he gave us shelter, he gave us each other, he gave us husbands and wives and children, and he provided so much for each and every one of us. And we cannot neglect to say thank you. The Apostle Shaul Paul said in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, in everything give thanks, for this is the will of God for you. God want us to give thanks. Giving thanks to the Lord for his provision is necessary by those that seek to be, to sense the blessing of the Lord, because in everything we are called to give thanks to the Lord. And above all, beloved friend, to be thankful for the salvation that the Lord has provided for you and I through our Lord Yeshua Jesus the Messiah. Now notice then, a few more points here, as we draw towards the end of Leviticus chapter 23 in verse 40 and verse 41, the Feast of Tabernacles is to be a feast of rejoicing and a celebration that God commended the people of Israel.

Notice what we read in verse 40 and 41. And ye shall take you of the first day the boughs of goodly trees, branches of palm trees, the boughs of thick trees, and the willows of the brook, and ye shall rejoice. Notice the word rejoice. Ye shall rejoice before the Lord your God for seven days. In verse 41, And ye shall keep it a feast unto the Lord for seven days in the year, ye shall be, it shall be a status forever in, in your generation, ye shall celebrate it in the seventh month. Notice the word rejoice in verse 40 and celebrate in verse 41. The word rejoice in verse 40 is v'samachtem. And the word to celebrate in verse 41 is v'tachogu, tachogu, to make it a, a feast, a celebration, a joyous time together.

And you see it is a command by the Lord. That Israel is commanded to have a time of celebration during that time, beloved brothers and sisters, and you notice they are to take the four species. The, as it says here in our chapter, the goodly trees, the palm trees, the thick trees, and the willows of the brook. These are all sort of, plants, and showing the provision of the Lord. In the Hebrew, they are called, beloved brothers and sisters, etrog, lulav, hadas, and aravah.

It is the four species, Arbaat HaMinim. And you see, traditionally, even up till today, there are those four, species, there are four, branches, and the etrog, beloved brothers and sisters, the goodly trees, palm trees, thick trees, and the willow of the brook, and Israel is to hold it in their hand and to present it before the Lord. Traditionally, they will wave it before the Lord in four direction. Why in four direction? Representing the fact that they are thankful to the Lord, and to for all the four corners of the earth on behalf of all the nations of the world, the seventy nations represented there in Genesis chapter ten. But there was a responsibility to celebrate, to rejoice.

In fact, the apostle, Paul, at giving this responsibility to rejoice, beloved brothers and sisters, if you just turn with me for a moment to the book of, Philippians, if you just turn there for a moment, there we read in Philippians, chapter four, we read in verse, four, rejoice in the Lord always. And again I say, rejoice. Let your moderation be known unto all men, the Lord is at hand. He's nigh.

In other words, there is an exhortation to rejoice. Ezra said to our forefathers, the people of Israel, that the joy of the Lord is your strength in Nehemiah chapter eight. Joy is part and parcel of the life of the believer. Even in the midst of sorrow, there is joy, and it is the joy that is found in the person of the Lord Jesus the Messiah. You remember what we read even concerning Yeshua, Jesus the Messiah in the book of Hebrews?

In Hebrews chapter twelve, we read, and I want to read that verse for us as well, beloved brothers and sisters, there we read in Hebrews chapter twelve concerning the person of our Lord Jesus the Messiah, looking unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him. Hebrews chapter twelve and verse two, for the joy that was set before him, he noticed that he endured the cross, he despising the shame, and he sat down on the right hand of the throne of God. Yeshua, Jesus our Messiah, had this joy before him, and what was his joy? What was the joy that was set before him? It is to bring a people for himself, that they will be a forgiven people, that on the basis of his finished work, when he died, buried, rose again, he provided redemption, salvation, justification for all who trust in him.

And so he rejoiced, he had joy when he was suffering here in this world. And the nation of Israel were instructed to rejoice in the Lord because of the provision of the Lord for the nation of Israel. Now go back to Leviticus at chapter 23, and I want to point to the, to the final of the seven instructions that God gave to Israel in Leviticus 23 verses 42 and 43. This final instruction, this is number seven, instruction number seven, the Feast of Tabernacles is to be a time to dwell in booth and reflect on God's faithfulness.

It is a time for the children of Israel to dwell in Sukkot, in Tabernacles, and to reflect on God's faithfulness to our people, to our forefathers. And so we read in verses 42 and 43 of Leviticus chapter 23. Ye shall dwell in booth. How long time? For seven days. All that are Israelis born shall dwell in booth. The word for booth in Hebrew is sukkot. Sukkah is singular, sukkot is plural. And it's really another word for it is tabernacles.

It says in verse 43, why Israel is to dwell in sukkot? And notice is to dwell in sukkot, in tabernacle, in booth, which is a fragile structure built outside the home. And then to have this foresight to it, like a tent made out of pieces of wood, very fragile, very temporary. And to have on the top of the ceiling branches, and the branches must not cover the s- the roof because they have to look up and to see the sky, to see heaven, to see the star, and to see the one that is the eternal God of Israel.

And to look as they sit in the booth, and to look up and to look above, and to remember the faithfulness of God for the nation of Israel. It says in verse 43, Why they are to sit in a booth, in a sukkah, in a tabernacle? Why? That your generations may know that I, God saying, has made the children of Israel to dwell in Sukkot, in booth, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.

Israel, you are never, never to forget of my faithfulness to you, how I took you out of the land of Egypt, beginning the Passover, when God had passed over, when I see the blood, I will pass over you, God said to the nation of Israel. And he brought the, people of all, the Hebrews out of the land of Egypt, and God was so faithful for forty years to lead the nation of Israel through the wilderness, to watch over them, to take care of them, although they rebelled and disobeyed and violated God's word, but the faithfulness of God was to be remembered by the people of Israel. And that's why verse 43 is very important, that your generation, you see, The Feast of Booth was to be kept from generation to generation to generation. I remember as a little boy when we were building the sukkah at my grandfather's place.

What a joyful time it was outside of the home, in the courtyard somewhere there, building a sukkah made out of wood, having a material around as walls, decorating the sukkah with various decoration, putting branches on the top, making sure that we can see the stars, can see the sun, the moon, the sky, the stars, and sitting in the sukkah. And while it is sound very abnormal when the fall season is coming and everyone goes into the home, the Jewish people go out of their home and sit in the booth.

And why it is in order to look back and to recollect the faithfulness of God, because year after year, month after month, week after week, day after day, God was faithful to the people of Israel, and He brought them out of the land of Egypt. And they are never to forget their redemption and the faithfulness of God. And beloved friends and dear brothers and sisters, it is, a speaking to every believer in every dispensation concerning the faithfulness of God for His people. And we are never to neglect to say thank you, Lord, for what you have done for me. You saved me, you forgave my sin, you brought me out of a world, and you brought me to yourself, and you have provided for me. Lord, I want to give thanks to you for who you are and for what you have done.

And so God have instructed the people of Israel to do so. Now, quickly, if you bear with me, turn with me for a moment to the book of Nehemiah. In the book of Nehemiah, time has passed by when Israel entered into the Promised Land, it was about, we might say, 1450 BC, about 3500 years ago, after the 40 years of the wilderness journey. When they have arrived to the land of Israel in the days of Joshua, they continued to celebrate the Feast of Sukkot, but they had conflict, continuous conflict all the time, and then you remember time had passed by, Israel disobeyed the Lord, the judges came, then the prophets came, and then the division, the kings came, Israel as a nation was divided into two kingdoms, the northern kingdom, the southern kingdom.

The northern kingdom disobeyed the Lord, were carried away to the captivity of the Assyrian in 721, 722 BC. The southern kingdom of Judah was also disobedient later on, they were carried away to the Babylonian captivity at 586 BC, and the temple was destroyed. And then after 70 years, God had restored the remnant of Israel back into the land.

And then Ezra came, Zerubbabel came, and Nehemiah came, and they rebuilt the temple, they rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem. And there we read in Nehemiah, listen to that, they're reading in Nehemiah, chapter 8, and I just want to read there this verse. We read, beloved brothers and sisters, in verse 1, and all the people gathered themselves together as one man unto the street that before the water gate, and they expect unto Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses. Now, at about 444 BC, they ask Ezra to bring the book. Many years have passed by, they were dispersed, and now they return back, and they ask Ezra, bring the book, bring the book, the Torah, bring the law.

And so we read in Ezra the priest, verse two, brought the law before the congregation of, both of men and women, and all that could hear with understanding, notice upon the first day of the seventh month. Once again, it is the month of Tishrei, it is the fall season, it is the, the, the month that representing the final feast of the Lord, the Feast of A trumpet, the Day of Atonement, the Feast of Sukkot. And notice what we read, beloved brothers and sisters, a little bit later on, we read in verse fourteen, and they found written in the law which the Lord has commanded by Moses, that the children of Israel should dwell in booths in the seventh month, in the feast of the seventh month. And they should publish and proclaim in all the cities and in Jerusalem, saying, Go forth and unto the mount and fetch olive branches and pine branches and myrtle branches and pole branches and the branches of thick trees to make booths, to make tabernacles, to make sukkot, as it is written.

So the people went forth and they brought them, notice, and they made themselves sukkot, booth. And verse seventeen is very touchy verse, because verse seventeen says, And all the congregation of them that were come again out of the captivity, they made booths, they made sukkot, tabernacles, and they sat now in booth. And notice what it says, this clause at the end of verse seventeen, For since the day of Joshua the son of Nun, Unto that day had not the children of Israel done so, and there was a very great gladness.

In other words, what here we learn from this verse, that during the many years that have passed by, although Israel did keep the Feast of Sukkot, but there was no joy as it was in the day of Nehemiah and Ezra, according to chapter 8 and verse 17. The word for they have not been done so has a reference, meaning that there had not been such a joyous and gladness celebration since the day of Joshua from the time that Israel have entered into the Promised Land at about 1450 BC.

Although they kept it, but many times they kept it with, without the celebration, without the joyous, without the obedience, because they were not always in the will of the Lord, but now they returned, and they have kept the Feast of the Tabernacle, in a joyous celebration. Because God have recovered the nation and brought them back and there Ezra was instructing them. And now brothers and sisters, just quickly for another verse that is found in the prophet Zechariah. And I want to read this verse so we can have this before us. Zechariah chapter 14, the Feast of Sukkot is representing the Messianic kingdom and all the nations of the world in the future day will come to the to the city of Jerusalem to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles, the Feast of Sukkot. Zechariah chapter 14, there we read in verse 16. Listen to this. And it shall come to pass that everyone that is left of all the nation which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year unto year to worship the king.

The Lord of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. In other words, every nation will send a representative during the millennial age, the Messianic kingdom, when Yeshua the Messiah will reign. Every nation will send a delegation to celebrate the Feast of Sukkot, beloved brothers and sisters. The Feast of Tabernacles will be kept by Israel and all the nations of the world during the 1,000 years of the Messianic kingdom. And if you read further in Zechariah chapter 14, if any one of the nations of the world will not come to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles, they will not have any rain. The judgment, the disciplinary act of God will be upon them even during the Messianic kingdom. It says in verse 17, And it shall be that whosoever will not come up of all the families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, even upon them shall be no rain.

And so the Feast of Tabernacles, representing, beloved brothers and sisters, the Messianic Kingdom, the rule and the reign of the Messiah, Yeshua, who will reign and rule in the coming day as King of kings and Lord of lords. And I'm just reading this in Matthew chapter 6, and there in verses 6 to 10, Yeshua, Jesus the Messiah, instructed the disciples how to pray.

And I want you to notice he said, After this manner therefore pray ye, verse 9 of Matthew 6. Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Notice that thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven. Verse ten, the Lord Yeshua the Messiah instructed his disciples to pray and to ask the Lord, to ask God to bring about the promised kingdom. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done as it is in heaven. So upon the face of this earth. And we pray, my dear friends and dear brothers and sisters, that the kingdom will come. And the Lord Yeshua, Jesus the Messiah will reign as King of kings and Lord of lords. And he remembered when he cried in John seven verse thirty seven, if anyone thirsts, let him come unto me and drink. He that believeth in me, as the scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.

This was a, a, a, a, a word of the Lord during the Feast of Tabernacles, the Feast of Sukkot, when Jesus the Messiah cried with a loud voice, inviting everyone that is thirsty to come unto him and drink. And may God work in each, of our hearts, and may many come to know him as our Lord, Messiah, and Savior, today, while we are waiting the coming kingdom. And the kingdom will come. Will you be there? In order to be there, you have to adhere to the call of the Lord.

If any man thirst, let him come unto me, Jesus the Messiah said, and drink. And may the Lord bless, his word to us all, and then may many will come to know Yeshua the Messiah today, while it is yet the day of grace. Well, our God and our Father, thank you for your word. We thank you for the Feast of Sukkot, the Feast of Tabernacles, which point us to the Messianic kingdom that is yet ahead of us. We give you thanks and ask it all in the name of Yeshua, our Lord and our Messiah. Amen. Amen. My dear friend, God bless you. Until the next time, we say Shabbat Shalom.