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The Biblical Overview of The Plan of God – Part 8

The Feast of Tabernacles

“The Kingdoms of This World Are Become The Kingdoms of Our Lord and His Christ”

Introduction

Thus far we have covered the spiritual meaning and the spiritual functions of the first five of the seven festivals which God gave to ancient Israel. In our last study we saw that the three annual holy days that follow the passover and the days of unleavened bread foreshadow the next three steps in the overview of the plan of God as well as revealing the three functions which are being performed by Christ’s firstfruits. These firstfruits, unlike Christ, are repentant sinners and as such are symbolized by a firstfruit-offering that is leavened, a Biblical symbol which is generally used to typify sin. They are also symbolized by the scapegoat which is another symbol for sin. But again, unlike Christ, “the Lord’s goat”, which is a slain sacrifice, Christ’s firstfruits are symbolized as “a living sacrifice” which is accepted as such only upon the sacrifice of the passover lamb Himself. So the passover Lamb symbolizing the first of the firstfruits, is the same in symbol, as “the Lord’s goat”, which is first slain and offered to God on the day of atonement, before the scapegoat “for a sin offering”. (Rom 12:1)

Lev 16:5  And he shall take of the congregation of the children of Israel two kids of the goats for a sin offering, and one ram for a burnt offering.

We are told both goats are part of “a sin offering…. [to] make an atonement [for] all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins” (Lev 16:21). The first goat is Christ in His non-perfected flesh, while the “living sacrifice” is us as the scapegoat of the day of atonement and as the two leavened loaves of the feast of firstfruits.

Luk 13:32  And he said unto them, Go ye, and tell that fox, Behold, I cast out devils, and I do cures to day and to morrow, and the third day I shall be perfected. 

“The third day” symbolizes the completion of the process of judgment which had to be completed in Christ’s Adamic flesh, which is indeed traced all the way back to Adam through His mother. The connection of Christ’s flesh to the flesh of Adam is the very purpose for giving us His long genealogy which ends with these words:

Luk 3:38  Which was the son of Enos, which was the son of Seth, which was the son of Adam, which was the son of God.

That is also the reason Christ is symbolized by a goat in the sacrifices of the day of Atonement. So there we have it. The first Adam is as much a “son of God” as is the last Adam. Both had bodies of sinful flesh, and there is no other way Christ could possibly offer Himself up to His Father as a “sin offering”.

The negative symbolism of goats in scripture is the flesh and the carnal mind of the flesh, which is unworthy to be part of the kingdom of God (1Co 15:50):

Mat 25:33  And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.

Making an atonement for sin is the purpose for offering both goats. But the two goats symbolize two separate functions of that atonement process, and those differences are qualified and delineated for us. The first, “the Lord’s goat”, is slain, and then, after and upon the blood of the first goat, the second goat is released alive in the wilderness. This second goat also symbolizes the sin offering, but this second goat is capable of being a trespass offering, which our sinless Savior could not be because He was in a body of sinful flesh which had never sinned:

2Co 5:21  For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we [we who have trespassed, and who have sinned are therefore, through Christ, now become a living trespass offering] might be made the righteousness of God in him.

That is why these two goats are sacrificed on the day of atonement, when God’s elect as a living sacrifice, must afflict their souls, for the salvation of His body which is the church:

Lev 16:29  And this shall be a statute for ever unto you: that in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, ye shall afflict your souls, and do no work at all, whether it be one of your own country, or a stranger that sojourneth among you:
Lev 16:30  For on that day shall the priest make an atonement for you, to cleanse you, that ye may be clean from all your sins before the LORD. 

2Co 1:6  And whether we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer: or whether we be comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation.

Col 1:24  Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church: 

The priest “mak[ing] an atonement for you” typifies Christ as our high priest, and if we are in Him and He is in us, then we, too, are now priests making an atonement for others:

Heb 5:5  So also Christ glorified not himself to be made an high priest; but he that said unto him, Thou art my Son, to day have I begotten thee. [God has glorified Christ to be our high priest].

Heb 5:9  And being made perfect [“on the third day”], he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him;
Heb 5:10  Called of God an high priest after the order of Melchisedec. 
Heb 5:11  Of whom we have many things to say, and hard to be uttered, seeing ye are dull of hearing.

Heb 6:20  Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.

What made “the order of Melchisedec” different from the Aaronic order? The only difference we are given is that Melchisedec was both a king and a priest as is Christ:

Gen 14:18  And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was the priest of the most high God.

Heb 7:1  For this Melchisedec, king of Salem, priest of the most high God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings, and blessed him;
Heb 7:2  To whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all; first being by interpretation King of righteousness, and after that also King of Salem, which is, King of peace; 

Heb 8:1  Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum: We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens;

One of those “many things [which are] hard to be uttered” about Christ as our high priest is that in Him we, too, become “saviors” [who are also] kings and priests. Paul could not utter that fact to the Hebrews at the time of this writing of Heb 5:11, but as we have noted, he did tell the Colossians that we are to “fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of the Christ”, and as we just noted, he told the Corinthians that our afflictions are for the salvation of others.

But it was given to the apostle John, in the book of Revelation, to come right out and tell us that we, too, are priests who, like Melchisedec, are now both “kings and priests… unto our God”.

Rev 1:6  And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

Rev 5:10  And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.

These spiritual positions are not just some distant spiritual promise, though they certainly are not yet ours in their fullness. Nevertheless all these promises are already ours in what the scriptures call “the earnest of our inheritance”:

Eph 1:12  That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first [as in “firstfruits”] trusted in Christ. 
Eph 1:13  In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, 
Eph 1:14  Which is the earnest [Greek: down-payment] of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession [meaning our resurrection to rule and reign with Him], unto the praise of his glory.

So Christ has already given to us a down-payment of our inheritance by giving us His Father’s spirit. In that position we can and must claim and confess who we are in Him and where we stand as His emissaries on this earth. If we deny who we are in Christ, He will deny us before His Father:

Mat 10:32  Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven.
Mat 10:33  But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.

Because that is true here are five verses which bear repetition. These verses tell us why our heavenly Father sent Christ into this world as His emissary, and they also tell us what is the commission which Christ, in turn, has placed upon us as His emissaries.

Joh 3:17  For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 

Joh 17:18  As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world.

Joh 20:21  Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you. 

Act 22:8  And I answered, Who art thou, Lord? And he said unto me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest.

1Jn 2:2  And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.

1Jn 4:17  Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world. 

Our old man cannot receive the depth of what Christ means when He tells us that He has sent us into the world “as [His] father has sent [Him]”. We cannot, in our flesh, comprehend the depth of “as He is, so are we in this world.” What is Christ “in this world”? The answer is, “He is the propitiation for our sins, not for ours only, but for the sins of the whole world”, and it is as spiritual kings and priests, in “earnest” meaning in down-payment form, that we as the anointed of Christ fulfill the functions of the three steps that follow the passover which we have covered thus far. In Christ as our passover we are 1) the feast of weeks (Pentecost), also called the feast of firstfruits. We are the two leavened loaves offered to God at Pentecost. If there were any difference in these two loaves, we would have been told so as we were with the two goats at atonement. But we are not told that ‘one loaf is Christ and the other is us’ as so many claim. Those two loaves are both Christ within His “two witnesses”, witnessing to and lying dead in the streets of Babylon (Rev 11). In Christ it is we who are the “seven priests” (Jos 6, and Rev 8-11) who fulfill  2) the day of blowing of trumpets, and in Christ, it is we who fill up in our bodies what is behind of the afflictions of the Christ as portrayed in 3) the fasting and afflicting of our souls, as the living scapegoat sin offering on the day of atonement.

The last two steps in the overview of the plan of God

There are yet two more annual holy days that fill out and finish the overview of God’s plan for all mankind of all time. These last two holy days continue to be “types of us”, and they continue to reveal how Christ through us, as “the firstfruits unto God and the Lamb”, will effectuate the salvation of all men of all time.

Let it be made clear that this study is not intended to deny that mankind must live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God (Mat 4:4). But let it also be made equally clear that this study is declaring that there is an order to God’s plan for the salvation of all and the destruction of death, and that we are focusing on the overview of that plan.

These last two holy days are shadows of how  we will be used by Christ to bring the ages to their predestined consummation with “the church, which is His body, [becoming] the fulness of Him that fills all in all”, by bringing all men to Christ.

Here we read of the work of those two leavened loaves as they are revealed to us again, in the book of Daniel:

Dan 2:34  Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces.
Dan 2:35  Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshingfloors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.  [“God… all in all”]

Here is this same message concerning God becoming all in all in the New Testament:

Luk 13:20  And again he said, Whereunto shall I liken the kingdom of God? 
Luk 13:21  It is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened. [“God… all in all”]

1Co 15:28  And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all. 

Eph 1:18  The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, 
Eph 1:19  And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power,
Eph 1:20  Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places,
Eph 1:21  Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come:
Eph 1:22  And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, 
Eph 1:23  Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all. 

Rev 21:3  And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. [All men, God “all in all”]

Christ has been granted by His Father to be the head of the church, which is His body, [which church is] “the fulness of Him that fills all in all”. God being “all in all” is the goal, the ‘telos‘, of His plan. That which “fills [God]” and brings about the goal of God’s plan for all men is Christ and the church. It is we who are the firstfruit fullness of Him that fills all in all”.

But before this can be accomplished, Christ and His body must first destroy death because we are informed that death is “the last enemy to be destroyed”:

1Co 15:25  For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet.
1Co 15:26  The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. 

1Co 15:28  And when all things shall be subdued unto him, [when death is destroyed] then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all. 

This brings us to a revelation from which our old man recoils in utter disgust, and a revelation which I have been unable to find in any commentary.

The simple fact is that to destroy death, you simply must annihilate all flesh that is upon the earth, and it is the destruction of death that is the real purpose for the feast of tabernacles and the last great day. The feast of Tabernacles symbolizes the millennium, and the last great day symbolizes the “short season” which follows the millennium, in which Satan is released from his prison and is sent out “to deceive the nations in the four quarters of the earth”.

Here is the holy spirit itself giving us the correct order of events as they will take place within each man spiritually and without dispensationally:

Rev 20:1  And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.
Rev 20:2  And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,
Rev 20:3  And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season. 

Rev 20:6  Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.
Rev 20:7  And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,
Rev 20:8  And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.

It is all being done through reigning priests, and the purpose for the millennium, which leads mankind into the “short season” of Satan’s deception of the nations, is to give God the occasion He is seeking to destroy death, by the annihilation of all flesh. Death simply cannot be eliminated from this earth as long as physical flesh exists:

1Co 15:50  Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.

This “occasion” God is seeking to destroy (death) is symbolized by the feast of tabernacles and the last great day. It is the events that take place in these last two steps in the overview of God’s work with mankind in vessels of clay which provide God with that ‘occasion’. He is seeking to harvest all the rest of mankind who were not part of the first two firstfruit offerings. It is an unbreakable Biblical principle that God always gives Himself “an occasion” to do what He has already “determined before to be done”. Here is are just a few examples of God doing just that:

Gen 15:16  But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.

Jdg 14:4  But his father and his mother knew not that it was of the LORD, that he sought an occasion against the Philistines: for at that time the Philistines had dominion over Israel.

Act 4:26  The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against his Christ.
Act 4:27  For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together,
Act 4:28  For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done. 

God already knows what He is in the process of doing, and it is simply a matter of waiting on him to do what He wills to do:

Job 23:13  But he is in one mind, and who can turn him? and what his soul desireth, even that he doeth.

Isa 48:14  All ye, assemble yourselves, and hear; which among them hath declared these things? The LORD hath loved him: he will do his pleasure on Babylon, and his arm shall be on the Chaldeans.

Isa 46:10  Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:

In the third and last harvest “in the year’s end”, it is God’s counsel and His pleasure to begin harvesting “all in Adam”. It is the feast of tabernacles with its attendant last great day in which His soul desires to start that final harvest process through which He has declared that He will “destroy death” (1Co 15:26).

Exo 23:16  And the feast of harvest, the firstfruits of thy labours, which thou hast sown in the field: and the feast of ingathering, which is in the end of the year, when thou hast gathered in thy labours out of the field.

It is Christ Himself who has revealed to us that “The field is the [whole] world”:

Mat 13:38  The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one; 

Here are all three harvests as they are presented to us in “the Revelation of Jesus Christ”:

Rev 14:14  And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man [Christ the first firstfruit], having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle. [The Word of God, also called a fiery sword].
Rev 14:15  And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in thy sickle, and reap: for the time is come for thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe. 
Rev 14:16  And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped. [This angel is speaking to Christ as the first firstfruits harvest]
Rev 14:17  And another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle. [This is us as “the (second pentecost) firstfruits unto God and the Lamb”, Rev 14:4, Rev 19:10 and 20:8]
Rev 14:18  And another angel came out from the altar [the cross], which had power over fire; and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe. [Grapes are the third and last harvest “in the end of the year”].
Rev 14:19  And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. [“The lake of fire”]
Rev 14:20  And the winepress was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs. [“Fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them” Rev 20:]

Rev 19:15  And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.

Rev 19:21  And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh.

But this is simply not taught in the churches of the great harlot, Babylon, who are convinced of the false doctrine of “eternal spiritual flesh”. Here is a typical example of what is generally taught in the churches of this world:

“At the beginning of the Millennium, only believers will be alive (Revelation 19:17-21), some who live through the Tribulation Period, and some who come back with the Lord at His second coming. It will be a time of peace unparalleled in history (Isaiah 2:4; Joel 3:10; Micah 4:3). Jesus will be ruling on the throne of David, imposing a benevolent theocracy on all of His creation. Jesus will ensure that everyone has every need fulfilled, while not tolerating the sin so prevalent in today’s society (Psalm 2:7-12; Revelation 2:26-29; 12:5; 19:11-16). We can only imagine such a time of “heaven on earth.”

“The believers who live through the Tribulation will be mortal. They will live and repopulate the earth during the Millennial Kingdom. Without the devastation of sin taking its toll, we can imagine the population increase during the Millennium will be enormous, almost incomprehensible. All those who are born during the Millennium will enjoy the benefits and blessings of Christ’s reign on the earth, but they will still be born with a sin nature, and they will still have to freely repent and believe the Gospel, personally choosing Christ as Savior and Lord.

“Yet, at the end of the Millennial Reign, Satan is loosed and is able to deceive a vast multitude to follow him in one final rebellion against the Lord of glory and His saints! It seems that the further humanity gets from the end of the Tribulation and the start of the Millennium, the more they will “take for granted” how good they have it, and some may even harbor doubts about the goodness of God. Even though the number who rebel with Satan are said to be “as the sand of the sea” (Revelation 20:7), they may still be a minority compared to the number who do not rebel. It will still be a large number of souls who join Satan. Undoubtedly, one of the primary reasons God gives us this picture of what will happen in time is to demonstrate the deep-seated sin nature inherent in all of humanity (Jeremiah 17:9).

“Additionally, God is trying to tell us something about His nature as displayed during the Millennium. His grace and goodness will be on display continually. But at the end of the 1000 years, He will have zero tolerance for rebellion. When it happens, He will show no mercy and offer no “second chances.” At that time He will be quick to judge, and the final rebellion of Satan and sinful man will be over in a flash of fire. After this, the final judgment of the dead takes place (the Great White Throne Judgment, Revelation 20:11-15). Eternity can thus begin with every aspect of sin gone for all time.

“Finally, God is trying to reinforce some very important lessons concerning Satan himself, especially for believers. First, that he has been and always will be the enemy of humanity. As God has fixed His love on us, Satan has for us a special hatred. Ever since Satan’s fall (Isaiah 14, Ezekiel 28), he has been the adversary of believers, and he is aptly described as the ultimate deceiver of mankind (John 8:44; 1 John 2:22). All he can give or promise man is death and destruction (John 10:10a). Satan is also shown here to be a truly defeated foe, and his ultimate doom is certain, along with the doom of all who follow him. God is trying to remind us that Satan is a created being who is powerless before Him (2 Corinthians 12:7). All this should encourage believers today to take God at His Word concerning our position in Christ with respect to the devil (Matthew 4:1-11; Luke 4:1-13; 1 Corinthians 10:13; 2 Corinthians 4:1-7; James 4:6-8; 1 John 2:15-29; 1 John 4:1-3), especially as we remember this grand truth: “…greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world” (1 John 4:4).” [This is taken from this link: http://www.gotquestions.org/release-Satan.html#ixzz3Kr4TUNoo]